Means for unloading magazines of firearms



Dec. 25, JENKINS ON MEANS FOR UNLOADING MAGAZINES OF FIREARMS Filed May3, 1944 Patented Dec. 25, 1945 MEANS FOR UNDOADING MAGAZINES OF FIREARMSRobert L. Jenkinson, Teaneck, N. J., assignor to The Marlin FirearmsCompany, New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application May3, 1944, Serial No. 533,830

9 Claims.

This invention relates to means for unloading magazines of firearms, andmore articularly to the removal of unused cartridges from the magazinesof repeating firearms which are provided with a gate in the side of thereceiver through which the shells are introduced into the magazine andthrough which also the unused shells may be removed from the magazinewhen the gun is to be unloaded.

As illustrated, the invention is applied to a lever-action repeatingrifle, although it will be understood that it is not limited to thistype of gun. Such guns are commonly provided with an opening in the sidewall of the receiver through which the cartridges are introduced into amagazine against the action of a spring which tends to force themrearwardly into the receiver to be lifted into a position to be thrustinto the chamber when the action lever is actuated. This opening isusually closed or covered by a spring-pressed gate, which gate is openedinwardly by the pressure of a cartridge against it as the cartridge isbeing inserted into the magazine. When it is desired to unload a gun ofthis type, the gate is pressed inwardly by the thumb or finger, thuspermitting the cartridges in the magazine to be forced rearwardly by thespring at the fore end of the magazine through the opening. The pressingof the gate inwardly by the thumb or finger is disadvantageous forseveral reasons. In the first place the gate must be held inwardlyduring the time the cartridges issue from the opening, and the thumb orfinger which presses upon the gate will stand in the path of thesecartridges and interfere to some extent with their egress. Also the gateusually overlaps to a slight extent the upper and lower edges of theopening, and the fiesh of the thumb or finger is sometimes caughtbetween the gate and the edges of the opening when the gate is allowedto close.

In the present invention I avoid the disadvantageous features of priorconstructions by mounting a pivoted cam or arm adjacent the gate,

adapted when rotated about its pivot to bear against the gate and forceit to open position. This arm or cam is relatively small, and will notinterfere with the egress of the cartridges from the opening, and islocated at the extremeend of the opening so that there is plenty of roomfor the cartridges to emerge. Moreover, the rear cartridge of those inthe magazine is held in such a position forwardly of the gate that whenthe latter is opened the usual spring at the front end of the magazinewill force all the cartridges in the magazine rearwardly through theopening,

so that the magazine will be entirely unloaded merely by operation ofthe pivoted cam, while at the same time the cartridges, upon actuationof the action lever, will pass rearwardly into the receiver to be liftedupwardly into the path of the bolt by which they are thrust forwardlyinto the chamber.

One object of the present invention is to provide improved means forunloading the magazine of repeating firearms.

A further object of the invention is to provide a firearm of the typehaving a side opening through which cartridges are admitted into anddischarged from the magazine, with a gate normally closing this opening,and means to move this gate to open position to permit unloading of themagazine, which means may be readily and conveniently actuated, andwhich does not bar the passage of the cartridges through the opening.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a repeatingfirearm of the type having a side opening for the introduction ofcartridges into the magazine and a gate closing this opening, with asimple device for moving the gate to open position when it is desired tounload the magazine, which device may be readily installed upon firearmsof standard makes without change in the construction of the parts.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features andcombinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.-

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. l is a fragmentary side elevational view of a repeating firearmembodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, showing the gate inclosed position;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2, showing the gate in openposition, and a cartridge emerging from the gate opening; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 44 of Fig. 1, showing the manner ofmounting the cam arm which holds the gate in open position.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention I have illustratedin the drawings a firearm having a receiver ID, a bolt II, a stock l2,barrel l3, forearm l4, and magazine I5. As illustrated, the firearm is arepeating rifle of the lever-action type, the action lever being shownat l6, which lever is pivoted to the lower portion of the receiver as atIT. This lever is provided with a forwardly extending arm I8, which, aswill be understood by those skilled in the art, engases the bolt I l andmoves the latter rearwardly when the action lever is operated, thisstructure The opening I9 is normally closed by a gate 20, the gate beingprovided with a resilient tail portion 2! secured at 2 2 to the sidewall of the receiver, so that the tail portion acts as a spring tonormally hold the gate in closed position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Itwill be understood that the gate may be moved inwardly against thetension of the spring portion 2| by pressure thereon, but that when thispressure is released the gate will return to closed position.

In order to provide means for opening the gate, a small shaft or pin 23is rotatably mounted in the side wall ofthe receiver in which is formedthe opening l9, this pin or shaft being disposed adjacent the rear edgeof this opening, and, in fact, passes through a recess 24 in thereceiver wall which communicates with the opening l9.

Secured to the shaft 23 and mounted in the recess 24 is a short arm orcam member 25 extending forwardly over the rear edge of the opening I!)so 7 as to overlie a portion of the gate 20. The shaft 23 also projectsdownwardly through the lower wall of the receiver, as shown in Figs. 1and 4, and on this end is an actuating element or fingerpiece 26 bywhich the shaft may be oscillated.

The fingerpiece 26, as is shown in Fig. 1, normally lies closelyadjacent to and parallel with the outer surface of one of the lugs 2'!which carry the pivot ll of the action lever, so that this element willnot'constitute a projecting part which might be objectionable.

As shown more especially in Figs. 2 and 3, the

forward end l8 of the action lever is provided with .a bump or boss 30against which the rear end of the last cartridge A in the magazinenormally rests at one side, this bump acting as a stop to prevent thecartridge being urged rear- .wardly into a position opposite the gate20. The

forward end of the gate is provided with a V-shaped recess 3i, and therear surface of the end of the gate 29. That is to say, the frontportion of the gate and the'boss 30 form a throat which normally holdsthe cartridges in a forward position.

It will be understood, however, that when the action lever I6 isactuated, the arm 18 is moved in a counterclockwise direction about thepivot 11, so that it passes from engagement with the rear end of thecartridge and permits the latter to slide back past the gate into thereceiver and above the lifting lever (not shown) to be introduced intothe chamber.

I The action of my unloading device will now be described. When it isdesired to load the magazine, the forward portion of the cartridge ispressed against the gate 20, which opens the gate and permits thei'nsertionof the cartridge into the magazine in the usual manner, thecam or arm 25 interfering in no way with this procedure. The gate 20 maybe provided with a rounded-out recess 33 in its front face to facilitatethe passage of the cartridges thereby. When the magazine is loaded therear cartridge will stand in the position shown in Fig. 2. If it isdesired to unload .gate is beveled slightly, as shown at 32, so that themagazine, the fingerpiece 26 is rotated from the position shown in Fig.1 to that shown in Fig.3, which turns the shaft or pin .23 through anangle of approximately 90, moves the cam or arm 25 through the sameangle. This forces the gate open, as shown in Fig. 3.

Normally the rear end of the last cartridge in the magazine overlapsslightly the upper and lower portions of the forward end of the gate ateach end of the notch 3|, but the movement of the gate inwardly, onaccount of its cam-shaped end 32, moves the cartridge forwardly to aslight extent to permit the gate to move to open position; As'shown inFig. 3, the cartridges may now move freely out of the magazine andthrough the opening I9 under pressure of the usual spring at the forwardend of the magazine.

The lever l8 rearwardly of the boss 39 is provided with a shallow recess34 to permit the gate when in open position to lie in this recess so asto afford no obstruction to the free passage of the cartridges past theend of the gate once they have cleared the boss 30.

It'will be apparent that I have provided a simple and convenient devicefor opening the gate of the receiver of a magazine firearm and holdingthe gate in open position to permit the unloading of the magazine, whichdevice may be mounted upon standard guns in use at the present timewithout alteration of the parts thereof, and which may be mounted in anout-of-theway position so as not to interfere with the normal operationof the gun. Also the device renders the unloading of the magazine asimple and'convenient operation, and as the actuating cam 25 lies in arecess just rearwardly of the opening I9, it presents no obstruction tothe passage of the cartridges through thisopening.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of m invention,it will beunderstood .that it is not to be limited to all of the detailsshown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit ofthe invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine whichcommunicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having anopening in its side wall through which cartridges may be inserted intothe magazine, a gate to close said opening, said gate being mounted onthe receiver to swing inwardly to open position, means normally urgingsaid gate to closed position, and an' element pivoted on the receiverand engaging said gate by which the latter may be opened to permitunloading of the magazine.

2. A repeating firearm having a, receiver and a magazine whichcommunicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having anopening in its side wall, a gate pivoted to the receiver to normallyclose said opening, a cam element movably mounted on the receiver inposition to engage said'gateto move it to open position to permitunloading of the magazine and manually engageable means for moving saidelement to open the gate.

3.='A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine whichcommunicates at its rear end nwith the receiver, said receiver having anopenposition to permit unloading of themagazine,

the receiver having a recess communicating with and which also the rearedge of the opening, and said element being disposed in said recess.

4. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine whichcommunicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having anopening in its side wall through which cartridges may be inserted intothe magazine, a gate to close said opening, means normally urging saidgate to closed position, an element pivoted on the receiver adjacent theopening and engaging said gate by which the latter may be opened topermit unloading of the magazine, and a manually operable memberdisposed below the receiver for moving said element.

5. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a, magazine whichcommunicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having anopening in its side wall communicating with the magazine, a gate movablymounted on the receiver to normally close said opening, a shaftrotatably mounted in the receiver wall adjacent the edge of saidopening, and an arm carried by the shaft in position to engage the gateto move it to open position.

'6. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine whichcommunicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having anopening in its side wall communicating with the magazine, a gate movablymounted on the receiver to normally close said opening, a shaftrotatably mounted in the receiver wall adjacent the edge of saidopening, and an arm carried by the shaft in position to engage the gateto move it to open position, said shaft projecting from the receiverwall and having a manually engageable member on its projecting end bywhich it may be operated.

7. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine whichcommunicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having anopening in its side wall communicating with the magazine, a gate movablymounted onthe receiver to normally close said opening, a shaft rotatablymounted in the receiver wall adjacent the edge of said opening, and anarm carried by the shaft in position to engage the gate to move it toopen position, said shaft projecting from the receiver wall and having amanually engageable member on its projecting end by which it may beoperated, said last-named member lying below the receiver.

8. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine whichcommunicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having anopening in its side wall through which cartridges may be inserted intothe magazine, a gate to close said opening, means normally urging saidgate to closed position, an element pivoted on the receiver and engagingsaid gate by which the latter may be opened to permit unloading of themagazine, and means cooperating with the forward end of said gate tohold a cartridge in the magazine.

9. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine whichcommunicates atits rear end with the receiver, said receiver having anopening in its side wall through which cartridges may be inserted intothe magazine, a gate to close said opening, means normally urging saidgate to closed position, and an element pivoted on the receiver andengaging said gate by which the latter may be opened to permit unloadingof the magazine, the forward end of said gate engaging the rear end of acartridge in the magazine and being beveled to move by the end of thecartridge when the gate is opened.

ROBERT L. JENICINSON.

